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No fewer than 11 people have been presumed dead after a boat carrying funeral guests capsized on the River Benue in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria, on Saturday night.
The victims, including a pregnant woman and six children, were reportedly returning to the Daududawadawa community after attending a burial ceremony when the incident occurred.
According to Punch, a local resident, in a telephone interview, said the boat, carrying about 40 passengers, overturned between 7 pm and 8 pm during a heavy downpour and strong winds.
The passengers were said to be travelling back to the island settlement located behind the Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering Barracks in the North Bank area of Makurdi.
Confirming the incident, the Commander of Operation Shara (Sweep), a local vigilante group in North Bank, Nura Umar, said the mourners had attended the burial of a woman from their community in Wadata earlier that day.
“The deceased woman had been taken to a private hospital in North Bank on Saturday morning where she later died. After the burial, relatives and sympathisers boarded a boat to return to the Daududawadawa community.”
“At about 7 p.m., heavy rain and strong winds started, and the boat capsized halfway into the journey. There were over 40 passengers aboard the boat, but 11 were feared dead. We have recovered four bodies so far and buried them, while divers are still searching for the remaining victims,” Umar said.
Umar added that one of the survivors had a baby strapped to her back but lost the child in the accident.
According to the Benue State Police Command spokesperson, DSP Udeme Edet, she is yet to receive any report about the incident.
The tragedy comes about six months after the Benue State Government introduced stricter safety measures on waterways following a series of boat accidents.
In January, the state government launched a safety enforcement campaign that made the use of life jackets compulsory for passengers and boat operators to reduce fatalities on the state’s waterways.
Search and rescue operations were still ongoing as of Sunday, with divers continuing efforts to recover those still missing.
